/ 03 December 2024

Alexandra Dudley’s Working Lunch

We’ve all been there – stuck for weekday lunch inspiration the moment Monday morning arrives. In her reimagined monthly column, SheerLuxe contributor Alexandra Dudley is serving up fresh, easy ideas – whether you work from home or like to take a lunchbox into the office. For her last instalment of the year, she’s sharing a fun twist on a festive wrap…

By Alexandra Dudley /

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EATING IN

The Christmas Wrap

I love a good Christmas sandwich. Wraps are a great option for a grab-and-go lunch or when you’re on the move – and this festive spin is delicious. The feta keeps it creamy without the wrap getting soggy and you can make them ahead of time and keep them in the fridge.

Serves

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes, cut into wedges

Olive oil

½ tsp of ground cumin

½ tsp of ground cinnamon

1 tsp of mixed spice

½ tsp of chilli flakes

Wholegrain mustard

A couple of handfuls of fresh spinach leaves

350g of shredded cooked chicken

150g of feta

100g of dried figs, roughly chopped

Cranberry sauce, if you like

5 wholegrain tortilla wraps

Method

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 200°C Fan.

Step 2

Toss the sweet potato wedges on a large baking tray with a slosh of olive oil, good pinch of salt, the spices and chilli flakes and roast for 40 minutes until soft and charred in places. Allow them to cool.

Step 3

To prep the wraps spread over a heaped tsp of mustard first followed by a handful of fresh spinach leaves, a handful of shredded chicken, some sweet potato, crumbled feta, chopped figs and a couple of teaspoons of cranberry sauce.

Step 4

Fold the edges of the wrap to the middle first to keep in the filing then roll, slice down the centre, wrap in foil or bees wax paper and store. I tend to make 2 or 3 of these at a time and have them ready to go in the fridge but you can keep all the elements separate and assemble as and when if you like.

GOING OUT

The Barbary, Notting Hill

I remember when the original Barbary opened in Seven Dials. It was the hottest seat in Soho that not even the sparkliest celebrity could reserve. The Barbary was one of the early adopters of the no-reservations policy after the trend was set by Russell Norman’s iconic Polpo on Beak Street. If you wanted to eat at The Barbary, you simply had to take your chances and show up. It felt exciting and the experience of dining there even more so. An open kitchen, the smell of meat and butter smoking, rich flavours and butter-bathed flatbreads to soak everything up. It remains one of my favourite places to eat in London, so I jumped at a booking when The Barbary opened its doors in Notting Hill.

The site is much larger than the original with a paired-back elegant interiors. Think chocolatey rich wood and muted dusty blues. There are velvety stools that overlook a semi-open kitchen (and look like the perfect place for a pre-dinner martini too). The menu echoes that of the Neals Yard site, inspired by the countries of the Barbary Coast, from Southern Europe to Northern Africa. I went for a late Friday lunch with a friend where we shared almost all the first section. Crispy Gigante beans with whipped feta, fried artichokes on spiced labneh and a wood fired flatbread dressed in bone marrow, garlic and parsley which was truly the best take on garlic bread I have ever eaten. The larger plates celebrate big flavours such as coffee rubbed chicken, sea bass chermoula, and harissa lamb cutlets.

Usually, I ditch pudding in favour of an after-lunch cocktail, but it didn’t take much to tempt us into sharing a pistachio and chocolate tart alongside a scoop of deliciously rich chocolate sorbet, so it’s worth saving room for pudding here too. You can book too which is a bonus and I spotted multiple tables of groups of six or more. It would be the perfect place for a girls or group lunch.

Visit THEBARBARY.CO.UK

For more from Alexandra, follow her @ALEXANDRADUDLEY or visit ALEXANDRADUDLEY.COM